Lovelace Medical Center has received another award and its CEO says the recent recognition, along with key accreditations are contributing to an increased patient volume at the hospital, as well a boost in physician recruitment.

The American College of Cardiology recently awarded the Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center with the NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG Platinum Performance Award for 2015, making LMC one of only 319 hospitals nationwide to receive it.

Recognizing the organization's successful implementation of higher standards of care for heart attack patients, the Heart Hospital of New Mexico had to continuously meet specified treatment guidelines established by the group for eight consecutive quarters — or two years.

"I think from a business plan perspective, you can’t have a better focus than on quality and service. What we like to do is benchmark against national standards so that we can be certain we’re providing New Mexicans the best service and quality," said Troy Greer, CEO of LMC. "The costs for accreditations are really modest [in the greater scope]. The real cost is the time and the personnel who dedicate hours designing processes and validating our data. I think that’s where the real cost is driven."

While Greer couldn't say how much the hospital has invested in accreditations and in achieving certain awards, the benchmarks have driven higher patient volumes into the hospital — specifically regarding cardiovascular and stroke services. Furthermore, the heightened recognition has allowed the hospital to recruit three more specialized physicians over the last six months.

Other hospitals within the Lovelace Health System organization also received awards and national accreditations earlier this year, including the Breast Care Center at Lovelace Women's Hospital, which received a Women's Choice Award in May.